Expert: 'Sleep texting' problem among teens

'It's exactly what is sounds like'

Published: 02/12/2013 at 12:52 PM

(PHILADELPHIA.CBSLOCAL) — Teenagers are prolific texters. But now’s there’s evidence that they are even doing it in their sleep.

It’s called sleep texting.

“It’s just what you’d think it is, it’s texting while asleep,” says Elizabeth Dowdell, nursing professor at Villanova University, “It’s exactly what is sounds like, or really more between that, you know, that area between being asleep and being awake.”

“The phone will beep, they’ll answer the text,” Dowdell says. “They’ll either respond in words or gibberish. (It) can even be inappropriate. Ex-girlfriends contacting ex-boyfriends, saying ‘I miss you. I want to see you.’ The thing that happens, though, is that when they wake up, there’s no memory.”